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Originally Posted by Luis Cruz Ok that's way too long to reply to so i'll just hit some stuff quick. I already explained the GSP/Mirko FOTY pick. There were 3 top WWs and GSP was one, he beat the other two. Let's not get crazy there was no controversy, he beat Penn. Penn had a really good first round and that was it, GSP took over after that. Penn is a great fighter so to give up a round to him or win a close decision doesn't make you any less of a fighter, it actually places you higher just for beating him. Then he dismantled #1 Hughes like no one else before him could, Hughes was NEVER in the fight for the entire time. And again, Mirko beat two blown up 205lbers and one HW thats not even a top maybe not even top 15 fighter anymore in that division in Yoshida. That gives him a good win by beating Barnett, choice made.
The KO of the year WAS Smith/Sell, no question. Just like RVB said even though he didnt mean it like this, Mirko ko'd a blown up 205er. It was a great KO definately, but you could see the KO coming by the beating he was taking. Just the way the Smith/Sell one happened and ended was classic. I don't think either guy was completely out cold so that didn't factor in.
Sub of the year, i was actually torn and kind of wanted Aoki there but i leaned with the forum for that one cause of the reason you mentioned that most people might not have even seen that triangle. Seeing Herman choked out was good though, cause some people need to be brought back to earth and that triangle was locked in a while. Hinkle was a good one too cause he was comletely out.
Promotion of the year is what brand took bigger strides forward not nessessarily which had better cards. So with that UFC does win easily.
Breakthrough went to Vera because he destroyed the guys he's faced as he should have. No one expected him to kill a back in shape Mir but he did, or handle Silva like he did. Akiyama faced absolute nobodies in MMA except Manhoef which is an impressive win. The Saku stoppage at NYE was BS so that don't even count. Vera is #1 contender right now in the UFC, not saying much there, but he did breakthrough and that's the award.
Mirko's overall game has drastically improved, compare his first fight with Wand to this last one and look at his ground defense, he's miles apart in every aspect from when he started in MMA after K-1. The others are good too, but Diego looks the same to me, he has shown the same game that got him to where he is now, i think he was just underrated before. Swick has improved also.
Everyone still believed Mir was going to be a contender for the title when he came back, that's this award, most disappointing. Although Sergei does make a good case also. |
You do realize that you just dissmissed Wanderlei Silva the #1 LHW in teh world as "a blown up 205lber"? What was he when he defeated the 240lb Fujita who is just outside the top 10 for the HW division? Also a war with a 280lb Mark Hunt that was a very questionable decision (ending Silvas 5 year reign in Pride of being undefeated), I would say he is just
"slightly" above a "blown up 205lber".
So St. Pierre defeating Penn while getting dominated in round 1 and eeking out a decision via takedowns actually places him higher than Cro Cop's 1st round 3 minute decimation of the #1 LHW in the world? I really cannot see how so.
You also must take into account that UFC has the only WW division so in a world rankings system if Pride had a WW division there is just no way that Hughes and Penn would be ranked #1 and #3 when Pride has an overwhelming dominance in rankings in every weight class. It is no fault of St. Pierres however it would be silly to just dissmiss that fact.
As Beatts said, St. Pierre defeated 2 fighters in 1 year, Cro Cop defeated 2 fighters in 1 night and they were the #4 HW in the world and the #1 LHW in the world whom the MAJORITY of this website chose to win the OWGP (via Afro's poll).
Again you downplay Silva as ablown up 205lber when assessing the KO of the year. I am confused as to why the KO of the year must be awarded to a fight in which no one saw the KO coming? I seriously doubt everyone saw Wand getting High Kicked and KOed, I saw him getting taken to the ground again and pounded out like he was getting. Even so, just because he was getting dominated should not play a factor in the best KO of the year as you are actually penalizing a fighter for having the ability to dominate the #1 LHW in the world, that just seems odd.
Sub of the year, who cares if most people here have not seen Aoki vs Clay French, there is a pics and videos section to the site and it is a library, there is a plethora of fights that are NOT UFC fights. It seems silly to deny Aoki of the title just becasue there are some simple minded fans who refuse to open there eyes to the world of MMA.
Breakthrough of the year you say Akiyama has faced absolute nobodies aside from Manhoef and that the Sak stoppage was BS but then go on to say Vera has faced nobodies and only 3 of them while Akiyama faced 6 fighters and won all 6 including a fight with Manhoef where he was crowned K-1 GP champion and outweighed by 12-15lbs, Smirnovas who is not a can and Sakuraba. Vera is #1 contender in the weakest division in and elite organization and look at the road in which Vera had to travel to get the contender spot, he did not even have to fight Monson, he fought Frank Mir and yes I think everyone did in fact expect him to kill an in shape Frank Mir other than the new fans who just know the name and hype of Frank Mir and knew nothing to very little about Vera.
This is Most improved fighter of the YEAR, not most improved fighter since early in 2002 so using his first fight with Wand compared to his second fight is baseless so the only valid comparison is his 05 performance in which he lost to Fedor but had an outstanding showing and his fight with Hunt in which he was phenomenal as well, Fedor is the best in the history of the game and Hunt has Cro Cop's number because he is a world class striker as well but has the best chin in MMA and has a huge size advantage, that fight will go Hints way the majority of the time. Diego like legend said was a TUFer last year and this year is an elite fighter and the #1 contender for the title and had to earn it by winnign a fight in which the vst majority of people thought he would lose and then KOing Riggs who had never been KOed in his career and was supposedly a far superior striker.
The only people that had faith in Mir after wttnessing his first fight in the UFC since the accident were his die-hard fans and ill informed fans/new fans that just did not know any better (trust me, one of my friends who is a casual fanwas thinking Mir was going to be great as well but after wittnessing that first fight he knew Mir was done).
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